No American Company Can Produce 5G Tech. We’d Better Fix That, Fast

From Daily Caller.com (Sept. 16):

In journalistic parlance, a “buried lede” is a news item that should be of primary importance, but somehow is made secondary. And so on September 10, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman buried the lede.

Friedman’s topic was a puffy interview with Ren Zhengfei, the founder and CEO of Huawei, the mammoth Chinese tech company. And okay, it was interesting to see Friedman give space to Ren, so that the Chinese executive could broadcast his government’s latest negotiating point in the worldwide struggle over 5G technology.

5G is, after all, supremely important; no one needs to be reminded that the Internet and its many parts are now central to everything — including military power. In the words of the Nikkei Asian Review, “5G networks, which transmit huge amounts of data, can be likened to artillery. And having them controlled by China could vastly boost that country’s political and military influence.” [emphasis added]

Given the centrality of 5G, it was notable that Friedman dropped the most important words — what should have been the lede — in a near-throwaway dependent clause: “And if the United States — which has no indigenous 5G networking manufacturer…”

There! That’s the buried lede: The U.S. can’t make its own strategic materiel.

According to Reuters, the leading players in 5G technology are the Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE, followed by two European firms, Ericsson and Nokia. Way back in the pack is an American company, Qualcomm. [read more]

Yea, America can’t let China be the first to produce 5G.

Another article about 5G: 5G is finally here – but is it safe?